Thursday, July 30, 2015

Are we having deja vu yet? At least authorities indicted Tensing instead of outright dismissing the whole sorry mess and pulling a rug over it. I'm liking body cameras thus far.From the Cincinnati.com article:"Samuel DuBose's last words were "I didn't even do nothing."A
video from University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing's body
camera of DuBose's fatal shooting reviewed by The Enquirer indicates
DuBose was shot to death by Tensing following a calm exchange during a
Mount Auburn traffic stop July 19.There is no violence or
physical altercation shown, and DuBose does not appear to be belligerent
or aggressive toward the officer. DuBose turns his ignition key,
starting the car, but the vehicle appears to move only after the shot is
fired. That's significant, because Tensing told authorities he'd been
dragged by the vehicle."Okay,
let's hear it - what nonsensical rationale is the apologist crowd going
to toss off on this one to excuse not only Tensing's unwarranted escalation, but he and his fellow officer blatantly lying about what happened?

Because simply EH-verybody knows
that pretending to be a Homo sapiens around the wrong kind of law enforcement officer is aggressive, threatening behavior and can't be tolerated.

I got news for all the (alleged) people that wanna spew that crap. You can buy into whateverjustification
you want because you think "I'm a law-abiding citizen and this will
never happen to me or anyone I know". You're wrong. It doesn't matter
what you actually do, all that matters to a bully cop (as opposed to a real
police officer) is that (s)he decided you looked wrong. And you likely do
know people who've been on the receiving end of a bully cop for no
legitimate reason; if nothing else, you know me. I've met cops that told me I "looked suspicious" or "behaved aggressively" for the following:

living in an older shabby-but-clean neighborhood where most of the residents are elderly white and black people who've lived there for decades and Latino families with small kids and jobs

having a 2003 car with body damage and NPR and "Coexist" bumper stickers

being an a public place looking like a "homeless person" (I went out in the middle of a bathroom remodel in old clothes with caulk and paint on them)

being female and not crying or showing fearful body language during an attack by an armed drunk

having a pitbull

reading a book in public

stating that I did not hear an officer knocking on the front door because I was in the back yard mowing grass

driving home from work at 2 am

"talking uppity" (using words someone like me isn't supposed to know)

My
experiences can't compare with what the aforementioned people or hundreds like them
have had, but if a dumpy white jeans and t-shirt wearing 40-something nerd is
on police radar as a "no good", you might oughta rethink that "Us vs Them" pedestal you're precariously balanced on.

Officer Smith assisting a white supremacist with heat sickness in the line of duty

Suggestion:
quit dividing people by fighting over whether unreasonable police
violence is more a case of racism, sexism, ethnicism, homophobia, or any
other specialized species of bigotry. People can be bigots and still leave that at the door to do their jobs because law enforcement is about enforcing laws, not opinions, as SC police officer Leroy Smith pointed out.
The escalation of police violence does have some relationships with the
escalation in criminal resources and range of operations, but that
can't be held up as a cover-all excuse for every time someone with a
badge loses his shit or gets his bully on.This is about people who should probably have never been allowed to become police officers being police officers for the wrong reasons, and officers being told that if they don't cover up for them, they're traitors and "no goods" themselves. This is about Sane Vs. Crazy.By the way, Officer Smith's Beer & Cookies are on the way (salutes)

They're at risk of becoming an endangered species, and they need our help